TLDR: Stockholm-based AI startup Grasp has successfully raised $7 million in Series A funding, led by Octopus Ventures, with participation from Yanno Capital. This investment will fuel the expansion of its AI Analyst platform, designed to automate complex, manual spreadsheet and research tasks for finance professionals, aiming to transform the $1.4 trillion financial advisory industry.
Grasp, a pioneering AI startup headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, has announced the successful closure of a $7 million Series A funding round. The investment, led by Octopus Ventures with continued support from existing investor Yanno Capital, brings Grasp’s total funding to $9 million. This significant capital injection is earmarked to accelerate the development of its AI-powered analysts and expand its global footprint, fundamentally reshaping how financial professionals approach data analysis and reporting.
Founded in 2020 by former McKinsey consultants Richard Karlsson and Johan Devér, alongside ex-Ericsson AI engineer Simon Hällqvist, Grasp emerged from a firsthand understanding of the inefficiencies plaguing the financial advisory sector. Richard Karlsson, CEO and co-founder, highlighted the problem, stating, ‘At McKinsey, we spent over 90% of our time on manual work – reading reports, building Excel models, creating presentations.’ This realization spurred the creation of a solution to automate these time-consuming, repetitive tasks.
Grasp’s proprietary multi-agent platform is designed to address the heavy reliance on human labor in processing vast amounts of unstructured data within the $1.4 trillion financial advisory industry. The company’s flagship product, the ‘AI Analyst,’ functions as an advanced agentic system. It connects highly domain-specific AI agents to trusted tools and datasets, enabling it to source information, manipulate spreadsheets, and generate client-ready materials such as detailed analyses and PowerPoint presentations. This automation significantly reduces manual research time, enhances analysis quality, and helps uncover new acquisition targets, buyers, and precedent transactions that might otherwise be missed.
The company has already demonstrated substantial traction, reporting a 3.5x growth in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) over the past year. Grasp currently serves nearly 200 customers across 30 countries, including several global banks and a majority of the Big Four and MBB (McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Company) consulting firms. This widespread adoption underscores the platform’s effectiveness in streamlining complex workflows.
The newly secured funding will be strategically deployed to deepen Grasp’s AI capabilities, particularly in areas like commercial due diligence and the automated creation of pitch decks and investment memorandums. Furthermore, the investment will support the expansion of its international presence, including the recent opening of a London office, and bolster its product and sales teams. The company is also committed to ensuring enterprise-grade security, transparency, and control within its platform.
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Richard Karlsson emphasized the transformative potential, stating, ‘AI will fundamentally transform current workflows in finance. That’s why we founded Grasp — to build the AI Analyst transitioning finance from being human capital to technology centric. We’ve never been more excited about the opportunity to achieve this transition than we are today.’ Grasp’s vision is to empower finance professionals to focus on strategic decision-making rather than manual documentation, marking a significant shift towards a more technology-centric future for the industry.
